SOURCE: A review of The Salt Eaters, in CLA Journal, Vol. XXVI, No. 1, September, 1982, pp. 125-27.

In the following positive review of The Salt Eaters, Shipley deems the novel "an unqualified success," concluding that Bambara's literary voice "has refused to be tranquilized into slumber but will share with all women the quality of pain and despair."

John O. Killers once commented to Maya Angelou that the most difficult kind of writing was the short story. If this is true, then Toni Cade Bambara has, for some time now, had few peers in the area. Already acknowledged as one of the finest short story writers in the country, Toni Cade Bambara has taken her artistry to the novel—and achieved profound results, with The Salt Eaters. At her best, Toni Cade Bambara has few peers when she is exposing the flaws in black male-female relationships or the unique pain...